In a July 21, 1998 letter to supporters, CAUSE Executive Director Kirk Lyons announced that he has stopped CAUSE's newsletter, The Balance, and is ceasing to raise funds because "it is pointless to continue fund raising when a letter costs more than it brings in." According to Lyons, he and Assistant Director/brother-in-law Neil Payne are both now working full time for the Southern Legal Resource Center, Inc. "which specializes in Southern heritage violations and is a civil liberties organization for the Confederate flag."
Lyons went on to say he would fulfill his attorney
obligations to his Branch Davidian clients. The letter has
a bitter tone to it blaming in part "irresponsible elements in the 'patriotic'
movement" for CAUSE not "still being a vibrant force for good."
He also said,
"This decision was brought about by a number of factors:
Drastically decreased support for our Waco
case;
incessant and vicious demonization of our efforts
by kooks in the Oklahoma City bombing
conspiracy crowd;
irresponsible Spotlight journalists, who never
contacted us for our side of the Strassmeier story."
Although Lourie works out of South Carolina, an
SLRC news release gives the address for the SLRC's office as
the same Black Mountain, NC address, phone, and fax number used by
the now defunct CAUSE Foundation.
Consider the following quotes:
"It would be good if the Klan followed the advice of
former Klansman Robert Miles: 'Become invisible, Hang the robes and
hoods in the cupboard and become an underground organization. This would
make the Klan stronger than ever."
--Lyons' interview in the neo-nazi publication Volkstreue,
winter 1992
"I will never be a force for dividing us, the one
thing is that I keep my eye on the ball and I keep my finger pointed in
one direction, at our enemies, and I don't point at anybody else on our
side of the line."
---Interview with Lyons in the KKK publication The Klansman
Sept/Oct. 1990.
(See more such quotes from Lyons in the November
1996 Memorandum, Item 12)
To many observers Lyons' pattern of trying to appear
to be a moderate "civil rights lawyer " are belied by his statements and
actions over the years. Through various incarnations from the
Patriots Defence Foundation to CAUSE, Lyons' has been a prominent, if controversial,
part of the national white supremacy movement. Having not renounced
his past actions or statements, Lyons' role as incorporator and Chief Trial
Counsel for the Southern Legal Resource Center (SLRC) raises serious questions
for his colleagues at the SLRC about the public perception of their organization
when Kirk Lyons plays such a major role.